Railroad-tie plate.



, No. 709,348. Patented se it. l6, I902.

' v. E. McBEE.

RAILROAD TIE PLATE. (Application filed May 28, 1902.)

(No Model.)

INVENTOR ww z. A

A mmrs.

UNITED STATES "VARDRY E. MOBEE, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

RAILROAD-TIE PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 709,348, datedSeptember 16, 1902.

Application filed May 28, 1902. Serial No. 109,311. (No model.)

Virginia, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad TiePlates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement'in railroad-tie plates, being in thenature of a device to support the ordinary railroad-rail upon thecross-tie; and the invention has for an object to provide a simpleconstruction which will be self-retained on the tie, can be embeddedtherein, and will furnish a broad base for the rail, as desired; and theinvention consists in certain novel construction and combinations ofparts, as Will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 isa top plan view of a section of the trackprovided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a detail cross-section on aboutline 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective View of the .tie-plate. Fig. 4 is a detail cross-section on about line 44. of Fig. 3. Fig. 5is a detail top plan View of the shouldered end of the tie-plate, andFig. 6 shows a somewhat differentconstruction from that shown in Fig. 4.

The rail A and the tie B may be of the ordinary kind, the tie B being ofwood, as usual. The tie-plate O is arranged upon the tie B and isembedded therein, so that the upper face 0 of the tie-plate will restapproximately flush with the upper surface of the cross-tie B, as shown.The tie-plate C is arranged diagonally to the direction of length of therail, and the upper face 0 of said plate is fiat to form a broad basefor the rail, and at one end of the tie-plate is formed anupwardly-projecting boss D, whose inner side D is arranged diagonally tothe direction of length as shown, and terminate at their lower sides atE in a cutting edge, which extends longitudinally of the plate 0 andmidway between the edges thereof, as shown. At their upper edges thesides E extend to the upper face 0 of the plate 0, so the plate 0 may beforced bodily into a tie by suitable pressure or force until its edge IEwill lie approximately flush with the upper face of the tie, as shown inthe drawings. The sides E may be fiat, as shown in Fig. 4, or where thetie-plate is made more than one inch wide it may be desired to dish orcurve the surfaces, as shown at e in Fig. 6.

On its under side the plate O is provided with anchoring devices,whereby it may be self-anchored against lateral displacement on the tie.To this end it is preferred to provide the prongs F and G atrespectively the outer and inner ends of the tie-plate and at the endsof the cutting edge E, as shown. These prongs F and Gslope from theextreme upper face 0 of the tie-plate and taper gradually to points fand g, so they can be forced into the tie without destroying the fiberor grain thereof and so the said prongs will opcrate when forced intothe tie to condense the Wood surrounding the said prongs, and thus tendto prevent the entrance of moisture and the consequent deterioration ofthe tie surrounding the said prongs. By preference the outer prong F is,made longer than the inner prong G to secure the anchorage at the outerend of the tie-plate directly at the point where the spreading strainwill be exerted upon the plate, the outward tendency or pressure of therail operating against the shoulder D and serving to force the prong Fmore firmly into the cross-tie.

Manifestly the plates may be made in different sizes and be employed onany track where cross-ties are employed to support the rail or where itis otherwise desired to secure the rail upon a rail-base. The device inuse is noiseless, durable, economical, easily applied, prevents thetrack from spreading, prevents the tie from splitting, and prolongs thelife of the tie, and affords the combination rail-base and tieplatefurnishing an efficient device at a small cost. It will also be seen thetie-plate is adapted to receive any and all rails in practical use.

It may be preferred in some instances to alternate the tie-platesbeneath the same rail, the adjacent tie-plates being arranged one derfor the rail-base in the use of the device,

the under side of the plate being formed with longitudinally-extendingsloping sides merging at their lower edges in a cutting edge, and thesaid sloping sides extending at their upper edges to the upper fiat faceof the tieplate, and provided at the opposite ends of the plate and saidcutting edge with the depending conical prongs, substantially as-and forthe purposes set forth.

2. A railroad-tie plate provided on its under side with the centrallongitudinally-extending cutting edge and having at the ends of saidedge the depending conical prongs whereby the plate may be forced intothe face of-the tie and be self-retaining in use, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination with thetie and the rail thereon, of the tie-plateembedded in the tie and below the rail and extending longitudinally in adirection diagonal to that of the rail and having on its upper side ashoulder to rest squarely against the rail-base and on its under sideintegral means for holding the tie-plate from lateral displacement onthe tie, substantially as set forth.

4. A railroad-tie plate having its underside provided withalongitudinally-extending cutting edge and with the opposite slopingsides leading from such edge to the upper surface of the plate, wherebythe plate may be forcibly embedded bodily in the tie, substantially asset forth;

5. A railroad-tie plate provided on its upper side at one end with aboss having its inner face arranged to form a shoulder for abutment bythe rail-base and provided on its under side with thelongitudinally-extending cutting edge and at the endstof said edge withthe depending prongs to enter the tie, substantially as set forth.

6. A railroad-tie plate provided at its upper side at one end With aboss having its'inner face arranged diagonallyto the plate and arrangedto form a shoulder for abutment by the rail-base and provided on theunder side of said tie-plate with integral means for holding thetie-plate from lateral displacement on the tie, substantially'as setforth.

VARDRY E. MCBEE.

Witnesses:

SoLoN O. KEMoN, PERRY B. TURPIN.

